Bible Verse of the Day

Ethan

All about Ethan

Five days in Ipoh

June 21, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Vacation | 2 comments

Nope, we didn’t just spend our Ipoh trip stuffing ourselves silly with food.  That would be BAD.

The kids were occupied with other interesting things too!

Pete’s recent business trip coincided with the first week of the school holidays, so I decided to take both Ethan and Hannah down to Ipoh for a short holiday.  So what were my kids up to?  Hmmm…let’s see…

We had a belated birthday celebration for Ah Ma 🙂  I ordered a delicious butter cake and had candles so that Ethan could provide his candle-blowing services.

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Kinta City mall was having a mini clay-sculpting workshop for kids where they would guide the kids to make a clay statue of their fathers in conjunction with Father’s Day.

First, you roll the clay between your hands and press it firmly onto a cardboard:

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Make sure you press it hard so that the clay mould sticks to the cardboard:

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Make indentations for the eyes, and shape the nose and mouth:

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Next, roll the clay and mould the base:

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Sculpt the hair on the head and create the entire face, neck and ears.  Then write a Happy Father’s Day message to Daddy:

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Attach a string to the card and tie it around the sculpture:

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Finally, pose cheekily with finished product 🙂

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Ethan was so excited about his sculpture, that he called his Daddy almost immediately and told him, “Daddy, I made a statue of you, Daddy!”

…On some days, I would allow Ethan to play some games on my laptop.  We found this cool baking game where he needs to *bake a cake* according to the picture provided.

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We also found time one morning to take both the kids to Polo Ground.  It’s a nice exercise area where lots of people come to do their runs or group exercises.  Now Polo Ground is also equipped with beautiful play structures for kids.  Ethan was thrilled!

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Hannah had her share of fun too!  Although she couldn’t quite explore the entire playground structure like her brother, she found other ways to have fun…

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I’m sure the kids had a good time in Ipoh, and especially spending that extra time with their maternal grandparents.  We drove back to Penang on Friday, tired but also just happy to be back home 🙂

World Cup Mania

June 18, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | 2 comments

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Everyone’s high on World Cup Mania nowadays…yes, even Ethan!  And when the newspapers published a pullout with pictures of the 32 teams, Ethan was VERY excited and wanted to learn how to say the names of all the countries.  He kept the pullout and has been learning the names of the countries ever since.  His favorites are Brazil and South Africa (because the team’s jerseys are yellow).

And now, he can proudly name them all! (I love the way he pronounces “Ivory Coast” :))

 

And you know what?  It’s not only from memory that he can name the countries!  Ethan can really read…here he is, reading from our World Cup Guide magazine.

 

So is this an indication of interest in:

A: Sports
B: World Geography
C: Reading
D: All of the above 🙂

 

Time to have a Pet?

June 15, 2010 in Ethan, Funny Moments | 1 comment

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We live in a condo, so it’s impossible to keep a pet.  But we do harbor hopes of owning a pet one fine day.

Recently Ethan started role-playing as an animal doctor.  He would tell us all that he has changed his name to become “Animal Doctor” and that he would tell all his friends in school he has changed his name too.  He would use his Ben 10 watch (with light feature) to check our mouths and ears, and declare us “Healthy!”

We figured it might be because he wanted to have a pet of his own.  So this conversation ensued.

Daddy: Ethan, would you like to have a pet?
Ethan: Yes!
Daddy: What pet would you like?
Ethan (without hesitation): A GIRAFFE!

A Fun and Enjoyable KL trip

June 6, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones, Vacation | 2 comments

Last weekend we took a drive down to KL.  It was a 3-day weekend, so we got to spend 2 nights in KL.

For a long time now, when Hannah rides in the car, she has been turning her head to see what’s in front.  Hannah was still in the infant car seat which was rear-facing, and seeing that she is so curious about “what’s in front” (plus the fact that she LOVES being in a forward-facing stroller), we figured it was high time she was *upgraded* to her front-facing car seat.

Both Ethan and Hannah looked SO adorable in their matching car seats.  Here they are, all buckled up and ready to go! 🙂

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And yes, they both have matching CHEEKY grins too.  I guess it’s hereditary.. 😛

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It was a rather relaxing trip, and we didn’t really want to rush around everywhere.  But we did manage to stop by 1-Utama for lunch and a quick walkaround.  We rented a stroller for Hannah, and Ethan wanted something to ride in too, so in the end, he got to ride in on of the kiddie firetrucks.  I tell you, that firetruck was a BIG HIT with both his cousins, Collin and Jonathan! 🙂

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On the day we were to leave for Penang, we decided to go for a short dip in the swimming pool in Pauline KorKor’s condo.  Believe it or not, it was Hannah’s first time ever in a swimming pool, and boy, was she excited!  Ethan was of course, the eager beaver, and he slid into the pool all by himself!

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For someone who was having a first-time experience in the pool, Hannah really enjoyed herself, and she didn’t show a single sign of fear.

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Ethan was even strong enough to climb OUT of the pool on his own!

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We really had an awesome time in the pool.  I did two laps, and Pete did one (shortened by the fact that he hurt his forehead on the wall of the pool…OUCH). 

Ethan told me later, “Mommy, I had a great time in the swimming pool.  Did you have a good time, too?”

Of course I did, baby.  🙂

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The Big Brother Role Model

May 27, 2010 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up, Hannah | 4 comments

See how easy it is for Ethan to *pass his knowledge on* to his little sister?

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Certainly helps that Hannah adores him to bits! 🙂
Ethan is also becoming extremely possesive of his sister. He sometimes refers to Hannah as “my baby” and will get upset when strangers threaten to *take her away*.
Seriously though, why do some people insist on threatening older siblings with “taking their little brother/sister away”? Isn’t that plain mean?

Teachers’ Day Celebration

May 24, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan | 1 comment

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Wow, it has been ages since I was involved in any form of Teachers’ Day celebration.  I remember bringing little gifts of flowers or cards for my class teachers when I was in school.  Of course, this time around, I would be helping Ethan show appreciation for his teachers instead.

A week before his school celebrated Teachers’ Day, I did a dry run of bun baking with Ethan.  He wanted to experiment with the kneading and forming the buns into shapes. 

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Things did get a little messy and it wasn’t long before Ethan said he was ready to wash his hands! LOL

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We did not use any preservatives for the buns, only organic flour, yeast, some sugar and salt.  They turned out quite tasty, though the dough should have been kneaded more.  Still, the buns tasted good! 

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Of course, we could not keep them for a whole week, so I had to make a new batch the day before the Teachers’ Day celebration.  This time, Ethan was *busy*, so he only helped me carry the tray to load into the oven. 😛

Ethan decorated the biodegradable paper bowls with some marker pens, and *signed* his name on little Happy Teachers’ Day cards.  Then we put the homemade buns into each bowl and tied it up with some ribbon.

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And he was SO proud to bring them for his teachers.  There were FOUR bowls because he has an English teacher, a Chinese teacher, a Malay teacher and an assistant teacher. 

Don’t you wish you were one of Ethan’s teachers? 😛

Parents’ Day Celebration

May 17, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Parenting | No comments

Last Friday, 2 days before Mother’s Day, Ethan’s school had a celebration for Parents’ Day.  The school decided to combine the celebration for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, hence Parents’ Day.  Pete could not leave work that morning, so I decided to attend the celebration together with Hannah.

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Parents’ Day was also celebrated in conjunction with Book Week, and the kids were asked to come dressed in their favorite storybook characters.  Ethan wanted to dress up as Dr Seuss’s Fox in Socks, but he didn’t want to wear the faux ears and tail; he only wanted to put on socks on his hands and feet.  So he was dressed all in red (just like Fox in Socks) and put on blue socks for his hands and feet.

The school had a little picture-frame-making activity for the parent and child too.  We were given all the material to decorate a picture frame with our kid.  For me, it was quite a challenge because I had to watch Hannah too.  She didn’t want to stay too long in the baby sling, so I took her out and let her play with some of the educational toys in Ethan’s classroom while Ethan and I did the decorating.

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Here’s Ethan showing off his little cubbie, with his name on it:

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After that, the kids presented their parents with some little presents they had made for us. Ethan gave me a bookmark with *my picture* on it (he had drawn a picture of me!), a handmade red rose and a heartshaped cookie with sprinkles which he had baked in school. Precious!

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Here’s a picture of one of the class projects Ethan was working on a few weeks earlier.  His teacher tells me the brown part at the bottom was all *contributed* by Ethan!

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After that, there was a garden party with lots of potlucked food.  I couldn’t really eat much because it was quite difficult to eat while slinging Hannah.  I could only manage some jelly and cake and lots of water!  Ethan had pasta, cakes and water.  Little Hannah had fallen asleep in the sling, even though the weather was scorching HOT!

And as we were driving home from school after the celebration, Ethan said, “Mommy, I had so much fun in school today!”  And that totally made my day! 🙂

Not just Nursery Rhymes, mind you…!

April 26, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments | 2 comments

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Ethan is EXTREMELY musically inclined, and loves music just as much as I do!  In addition to singing the regular nursery rhymes, he has also recently broadened his scope to encompass popular hits.  Check them out…

Rock That Body – The Black Eyed Peas

 

I Gotta Feeling – The Black Eyed Peas

 

Baby – Justin Bieber

 

Party in the USA – Miley Cyrus

 

I’m A Be – The Black Eyed Peas

 

Isn’t it obvious his favorite band of the moment is The Black Eyed Peas? 🙂

Shapes in Chinese

April 25, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | 1 comment

Ethan has been picking up Chinese in school (like a sponge, I might add!), because his school employs a dual-language approach.  We’re happy he is learning a new language, though we aren’t forcing it on him.  And I am quite certain he will soon be speaking WAY more Chinese (Mandarin) than me!

Lately he has been picking up the Chinese words for some basic shapes.  I don’t know if his pronunciation is accurate, but he certainly sounds adorable saying it!

First he learnt how to say three shapes:

 

And now, he can say SIX shapes!  Way to go, Ethan! 🙂

 

The lure of the curtains

April 21, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments, Hannah | 2 comments

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You can tell them “NO, do NOT play with the curtains!”, “Be careful guys, please do NOT pull the curtains!” and a whole list of concoctions involving the words NO and DO NOT, but they will still go back.

You can put them on the naughty stool over and over again, but they would still be giggling away and playing with each other in and out of the curtains.  Their laughter and squeals have even led me to believe that they are genuinely enjoying themselves!

You think it’s a kid thing?

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